With games against Anaheim, Los Angeles, and San Jose this week, all of which are Stanley Cup contenders, the Washington Capitals are pretty much “running the Gauntlet” in an attempt to keep their post season hopes alive.

On Tuesday night at the Honda Center, they received a 43 save performance from Jarolsav Halak and Alex Ovechkin’s 46th goal of the season in the third period on the power play to win, 3-2.

It was a huge victory to start off this road trip.

Halak was clearly the story as he thwarted numerous Ducks quality chances, but let’s give some credit to the Capitals defensemen, as well, for protecting their keeper and clearing any rebounds. John Carlson and Karl Alzner were outstanding on the backend and Patrick Wey, who was recalled and replaced Connor Carrick (healthy scratch) in the lineup, played a strong 16:28 to push his record with the Capitals this year to 4-0.

Washington didn’t carry the play for much of the game, in fact, they were out attempted in shots, 79-54. The Ducks won the puck possession and they also had six power plays. Officially they went 0 for 6 but Mathieu Perreault’s tally early in period three came a second after a Jay Beagle minor expired. Beagle took three penalties on the night. Yes, some of the calls were questionable, but Washington is fortunate the Ducks power play is in a major funk. It also helped that Cam Fowler was out with a lower body injury for Anaheim.

The Caps scored on their first two power plays and went 2 for 3 to basically win this one via special teams. The power play is a joy to watch as the puck movement is excellent with the threat to score coming from all over the ice. Troy Brouwer scored the first power play goal after a nice Ovechkin pass to Nicklas Backstrom (two assists) led to #19 firing the biscuit on net. Marcus Johansson was in front screening Jonas Hiller and #90 managed to put one off of the goalie and #20 slammed the rebound home.

MJ90 was very good in this game with Beagle and Ovechkin. He skated well and is generating scoring chances and goals by going to the net.

Speaking of going to the net, that is how the Caps took an early 1-0 lead. Joel Ward put in the rebound of a Jason Chimera shot from the doorstep. Ward, Chimera, and Fehr continue to be a dominant line for Coach Adam Oates.

Overall, though, the Ducks showed why they are a tough team to play. They had the puck for long stretches of time but they lacked finishing ability in this one. Corey Perry was pretty much a no show for Anaheim.

The Caps still continue to have their defensive miscues and the first Ducks goal was the result of a bad neutral zone turnover and a poor decision to change the forwards after that miscue. As a result the Ducks received a three on two break and Ben Lovejoy scored from the top of the right circle just 59 seconds after the Caps jumped out to a 1-0 lead. For the next several minutes Anaheim would dominate the action but Halak was like the Berlin Wall.

Somehow the Caps managed to scrape out a win. They still make some silly mistakes but they are starting to find ways to win games. This victory was their third in a row and improves them to 33-27-10 (76 points). With 12 games left, you’d have to think that the Caps need nine more victories to make the post season. The schedule is extremely tough and Anaheim is a good team, but the Caps pulled it out on Tuesday to start “The Gauntlet.”

Next up are the Kings on Thursday.

Notes: Anaheim won the face off battle, 37-35. Backstrom was 15-10…Ovechkin only played 15:30 and a good reason for that was that the Capitals had to kill six penalties…the Caps successfully thwarted a 1:50 two man advantage for the Ducks in the opening frame.